Monday, 29 October 2018

I'm having again problem with Blogger as i'm trying to reply to any of you and seems my old problem for replying has come back (to haunt me...especially at this time of year..Ha!)

So let start with my friend CN10: On October 29, 2018, you wrote:

Great game, Thanks to you and your daughter (spoiler alert --although I will now be traumatized upon seeing sweet tarts in the future)! Double thanks again for this and and the Haunted House shooting gallery!

My reply: Thanks very much Brian! Looks like you've found my little "bonus" i presume ? That idea comes from my daughter when she was watching some videos on Youtube and she doesn't even knows about it (you've found it before her, congrats!)

And no problem for the HH shooter, this was bound to happen sooner or later as i also think it's more appropriate as a shooter game than a wanna-be board game. Glad you like both games! =)

On June 30, 2018, CN10 posted this:

First, again all hail to Sly DC for inventing the OdySim. Like in the latest Avengers movie there’s the Infinity Stones. In retro gaming it’s similar. You had MAME, MESS, DICE and Visual Pinball. But no one had really simulated the Magnavox Odyssey. Our friend Sly finally brought balance to the retro-universe with the OdySim gem. (The next stone IMHO would be and electro mechanical simulator, like visual pinball, but would be an open editor for all the coin-op rifle, combat, and novelty games that dominated arcades form the mid 50’s thru mid-70’s. Hint Hint. Like you have nothing else to do except act on my suggestions.)) Seriously Brother, I hope your feeling back to your old self, after all you’ve been through.

Next, the Odyssey 500 Overlay, is an awesome idea, since it is such a standout in the Odyssey series ,as you point out on you tube.

Next I don’t know what to say about the 80’s retro games. It’s like an MC Eschar painting where you can’t really reconcile what you’re seeing. It’s a mind-numbing juxtaposition of two different era’s. The Space Invaders screen shot looks stunning and electrifying. I will try playtesting these games, to make possible house rule suggestions, but it could be overwhelming to my psyche!

Finally I would humbly make two simple requests for this Autumn; First take one of the other rifle games, and put in the Haunted House as the overlay. You wouldn’t even have to make new rules and it would be a better game than original 1972, which was horror-survival in the sense of “Why is this game more of a drag than filling out my tax return?” Second, you could take Santa’s Gift Hunt and replace the graphics with some Family friendly Haunted house clip art (or graphics from the game), and keep the same rules. This would also be better than the original flaming pile of ---- game. (Sorry to keep coming back to this general idea. At this point you probably don’t need to be a Sigmoid Freud to figure out one my great child hood disappointments. When described to me, I envisioned the Odyssey Haunted House game as looking and playing like the later invented Epoch’s handheld LCD Monster Panic. Sadly, not even close!)
Also in my opinion, the Santa Gifts game is the still most genuinely playable Odyssey game in current existence (apart from “States,” because nothing’s more exciting than shining a penlight behind the page of a Rand-Mcnally atlas.)

So Sly, Thanks again for all the Retro Gaming goodness, and we’ll wait and see what happens next. (and sorry for this lengthy post.)

My reply: WOW!!! It's me who's thanking you to have written all those wonderful and kind words. I'm seriously touched! (snif!).

Doing simulators of old electro-mechanical arcades was , well in fact, still is in my mind but my main problem is "time", well for now anyway. I also intend one day doing electronic handhelds but the MAME/MESS team is already on it so let's see what will they bring out.

After the OdySim, i intend to simulate as many "Discrete Logic" game console as i can. I've already done a simulator of the Entex Gameroom Tele-Pong which is posted on my other blog "LOVEMESS". But first thing first, i'm trying my best to finish the OdySim before attending any other simulators.

And thanks for the Odyssey 500, i thought it would be more fun on the OdySim (talk about simulation on a simulator...LOL!! And about the "Arcade Pack", i know it's pretty weird as it's like playing Mortal Kombat on an Atari 2600 but some people wrote to me that i'd do a real Frogger overlay and really want one (thanks to all!) but i'm not doing this for the money, just plain old fun!

But if someone want to print one for themselves, then i have no problem with that, as long there's no money involved in any way. As for for your two request, they have been fulfilled my friend!

On May 25, 2018, Pau Batet Martinez wrote that he would like for the OdySim to be able to boot in a 640x480 resolution. Well, you are not the first to ask me this...in fact, are all the persons the one and the same ? Hum...Sorry to repeat myself but even as now, i still don't know how to boot in a 640x480 resolution without any problems. The only solution i have for now if to find a PC monitor (or arcade monitor) that has the 800x600 resolution as this is the default resolution, ;)

On October 11, 2018, CN10 wrote that the read-me.txt file for Spot Hunter isn't working. Well in any case, you can view it or download it right here: OdySim-SpotHunter-ReadMe.txt

On May 21, 2018: Zadoc wrote that there is a bug with Red vs. Blue as the last player to touch the ball has control over the ball. This is quite so true in Tennis, Table Tennis and many others but for any game that uses Cart #8 or #11, it is the direction of the ball that decides which player has control of the English. If the ball goes in the right direction, then it's Player 1 who has control of the English and when the ball goes in the left direction, it's the Player 2 who has control.

And to all the others that posted comments: Thanks very much for the kind words and support! It's always appreciated! =)

So until next time, take care and keep in touch! (and also have a Happy Halloween!) =)

Sunday, 28 October 2018

I have been working on a brand new game which is a Halloween-theme and is called: "Jack-O-Lantern Odyssey". But i can't get all the credit of this game as my daughter has came up with the
original game concept. Check out her sketch of the game:

And it's not her first time that she participated for the OdySim as her first work was to colorize the presents and the Xmas trees for the overlay in Santa's Gift Hunt! =)

And here's two screen shots of the final version of "Jack-O-Lantern Odyssey":

Here's the story:

Many Halloween's ago, Jack-O-Lantern offended a wicked witch that her "candy" soup tasted so awful! And now after all these years, she is making finally pay Jack's insult as she casted a spell to send him to a magical maze.

But this magical maze is guarded by a ghost and Jack has to collect as many candies (the more, the

better) as possible so that the witch can forgive him. Can you help Jack to collect candies and get

him out of the magical maze ?

The PDF manual isn't finished as i'm trying to find all the spare time to finalized it.

So in the meantime, here's a short version of how to play this game:

One player is Jack and the other player is the Ghost. Each players can move a "X" number of squares which is indicated by the Die rolled at each turns. The player which is Jack (orange spot) has to collect as many candies as possible before escaping the maze (the exist is on the bottom-left corner) and can "magically transport" from any three places when touching one of the three Pumpkins (the player "Jack' can choose any of the three Pumpkins location).

The player which will be the Ghost (white spot) has for mission to catch "Jack" before escaping the maze and the Ghost cannot go through the RED walls (it's a magical maze if you forgot! Mouhahah!) BUT...the ghost can go through the one of the five YELLOW walls to help him catch Jack.

Also note that there is a "special bonus" within the game, let's see if you can discover it!

If by any chance that the "...read-me.txt" doesn't work, here's the buttons configurations/layout:

Player 1:

---------

'W' = Up

'S' = Down

'A' = Left

'D' = Right

Player 2:

---------

'UP Arrow' = Up

'DOWN Arrow' = Down

'LEFT Arrow' = Left

'RIGHT Arrow' = Right

'M' = Reset button (Respawn Jack)

Other buttons:

--------------

'ESC' = Quit/Exit

'P' = Pause

'5' = To activate the Die and to roll the Die.

'6' = To switch off the Die (to make dissapear the Die).

'F1' = To switch from windowed screen or Fullscreen (fullscreen now default)

'F5' = Toggles OSD Message (resolution)

'F7' = Changes resolution (size decreases)

'F8' = Changes resolution (size increases)

'F9' = To switch on or off the overlay

'F12' = To activate the background music (ON/OFF)

Ok so some of you are wondering why is Jack 'spot' orange ? Well two reasons actually: The first is to know which player is whom as the original Odyssey can't do any colors so this can mixed up both players (but the Brow Box was able to colorize spots, ball, wall or background). And the second reason is the color orange is one of the two colors of Halloween (the other is black) and also Jack is a Pumpkin! ;P

Here' the link to download the game: OdySim-Jack-O-Lantern-Odyssey or you can download it from the Archive.Org web site (first link in the upper right).

So hope you'll enjoy this new game as much as we (me and my daughter) spend time to design it! =)

And have a SAFE and Happy Hallowen! MOUHAHAHAH!!!!! (Vincent Price's evil laugh!)

Wednesday, 3 October 2018

It's been quite a time i haven't posted anything (no news, no games...not even a particle of dust) but i'm still alive and kicking. The reason it's been more than 4 months since my last post is that i finally have a house since beginning of June...AH...finally after a couple of years: my own home!

So a house, a job and two kids....plenty on y hands so some "myself" time is now very rare but tonight, i have some "time" to spare and what better to start with a new game...ERRR...not a new game but a re-do for this coming Halloween.

It's "Haunted House" but you use the Rifle to shoot (rather "hunt") the moving spot (or a square ghost). I did made this game suggestion quite a time ago and CN10 also replied that he would like to see Haunted House as a rifle game....well, now it's done!

Here's some pics:

And to make it more "fun" to play, i've added two new overlays (the last one is creepy! MOUHAHAHAH!!!! - ahem!).

Sunday, 27 May 2018

Either i post like crazy or i disappear for a few months...(ahum). This past friday, i've received in the mail these goodies:

And despite the few scruffs here and there on the boxes, all the games are complete and looks brand new! I think the person who had them only played once as all the parts looks untouched. But now i can FINALLY simulate all the official released games for the Magnavox Odyssey as i was missing some accessories from Baseball and Invasion to simulate both these games.

What do you think i was doing this week-end...scanning and programming (you %&%? bet! LOL!!!)

Second, i wrote that i was working to be able to use a USB gamepad with OdySim, what proper way than just to watch!

So this is coming, don't worry (be happy!) =)

And third; the goofed-up!! As i was watching the video once uploaded, i notice that at 0:02 seconds (if you pause the video), you see something that wasn't meant yet:

Look on the left of the picture where you can see the folders: DOH!!! I've just shown in plain sight what are the 4 games in the "Arcade Pak"!! Double DOH!

So the cat is out of the bag! So here's what the games looks like on a 49" TV and in a 800x600 window:

FROGGER:

DONKEY KONG:

SPACE INVADERS:

PAC-MAN: EAT & RUN

So this is all the 4 games in the upcoming "Arcade Pak". Frogger is ready to be released and Space Invaders needs a simple tweak to do to be ready. Donkey Kong is almost finished as i have only 9 cards created out of 12 and Pac-Man, well this one has been retouched this morning as the logo has changed and the maze is a bit bigger. It looks like the Coleco tabletop version isn't it ? The bezel and maze are from the tabletop as the name "Eat & Run" but in this case, you have to touch all 8 bonuses to win before the ghost gets you.

How do you like these games so far ? Don't be afraid to leave a comment (good or bad).

And finally for this week-end, i'll leave with a "funny" overlay not released...LOL!!

Friday, 25 May 2018

It was about time that i finally made some updates and applied some suggestions that you folks given me over the past two years, so without waiting, here's what been done (so far):

Anonymous (21 Sept.2017) ask me if it was possible to have an option to display or hide the crosshair in the "Rifle Gun" games as he uses a PC Light Gun to play those games. Now it is done as you just need to download the new version and just press "F10" to hide/display the crosshair!

Also he ask me if we could launch a game at a specific resolution, well that is still a problem as i've tied many things in the past few months so for now, this is a "nope"...sorry! But you can launch a game either full screen or in window mode with a "conf.lua" file (which i usually never include with any release).

CN10 (16 Jan.2017) suggested an additional rule for "Santa's Gift Hunt", it is now included in the manual and credited you my friend! Oh and you also suggested a "D&D-type game or a "Combat"-type game: well one of these two game-type is a work in progress. =)

Oh and almost forgot, you also suggested to use an USB controller (like Xbox 360), well this is also a WIP as i have a Tennis version that works with a generic USB controller but i won't release it until i can figure out why the game "slows down" when using a USB pad. But at least i'm working on this.

On this idea, i may even hook up an original Odyssey controller to play with OdySim, now this would be neat! And without a PIC or any $$%?%? programmable microchip...just plain good old TTL technology!

And finally, i also released a simple homebrew i've made (model SBRW07) called "Vector Tennis" and uploaded it to Archive.Org. This is a "What If" game if the Odyssey would have needed an oscilloscope to display the 2 spots, ball and net.

Well this "brew" was finished in November 2016 and decided to released it after all this time...i know...i'm lame! LOL!!!

And one last thing: The "Frogger" port for the OdySim seen on Youtube will be released quite soon but it is part of a 4 games "Arcade Pak". The other 3 games are a maze-game, a shooter game and a board game. That's all i'm saying for now (heh, heh, heh...)

So have fun with the new homebrew and updates so until next post, take care folks!

Thursday, 24 May 2018

3 days ago i've wrote that i'll be including the Tennis & Hockey prototype overlays and that's today, but...i went bonkers and updated 5 games instead of two. Here's the games in questions:

Tennis:

Prototype overlay

Odyssey 500 "Tennis" facsimile

Hockey:

Prototype overlay

Odyssey 500 "Hockey" facsimile

Handball:

Odyssey 500 "Smash" facsimile

Soccer:

Odyssey 500 "Soccer" facsimile

Volleyball:

Odyssey 500 "Volleyball" facsimile

All the "Odyssey 500 facsimile" are just for fun and ARE NOT simulators of these games. I just added these so people have variations in the overlays. I may even put some Odyssey2 games facsimile soon or in a near future, or Atari 2600 or....Ahhrrrg! I'm going bonkers again! LOL!!

Monday, 21 May 2018

It's been quite a time since the last post and the thing is that i have so much do to and to talk anything related to the Magnavox Odysssey, like for example: I must have crap in my eyes to never notice that on the box of the Odyssey, there is not one but two prototype overlays.

They are Tennis and Hockey: judge for yourself!

Notice the player on the left: On the release Tennis overlay, the player on the left (or Player one) is in motion to hit the ball and on the prototype overlay, he's looks like he hit the ball full force.

And as for Hockey, you can really see the difference! On the prototype overlay, there is only 6 players and 2 gollies which looks a regular players than gollies, also notice the nets, the black border is thicker and for last, both player in the middle has #1 and #2 and in the released overlay, both these players have #0.

The prototype Hockey overlay is shown in some pamphlets, on the Odyssey box, and also in the 1972 & 1973 commercials. Er...what the heck happened ?!?

So if you've read Kate's article, then now you know that there is not two but more than two overlays which exists as prototypes. So i also did my own research:

In the Magnavox Odyssey Promotional 1972 video (which last more than 5 minutes), i have notice that all the overlays are the same as the ones released except for one: Hockey as this one was installed on the TV inverted (lol!!!). But in the 1972 commercial, now this is where it takes the cake: Almost all the overlays shown in this commercial are prototypes or variations. Let me explain:

And finally, "Shooting Gallery" has 3 dots on the boats instead of two dots on the released version and Prehistoric Safari..has white clouds instead of blue clouds on the released version.

But the weird thing is...how come the 1972 commercial has so many different overlays and the Promotional 1972 video has the same ones as the released versions ??? Looks like they made the commercial before the Promotional...which i still don't understand why ?!! Now this is what i call a "WTF" dilemma!

But there is other prototype overlays, like the ones for the "Skill-O-Vision" (the previous name of the Odyssey) which are almost the same (or are the same) as the released version but they are all transparent and blue only. And also the game Ski, this game was supposed to have two overlays but they drop the idea....and this one is another story to tell.

And finally, i have remade both Tennis and Hockey prototype overlays and will include them in a newer version of Tennis and Hockey so anyone can play with and also to preserve them.

So until the next post (which should be real soon), take care and keep in touch! =)